Chance me- Vanderbilt ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

Hey y’all,

ACT:34 C (30 math, 35 science, 35 reading,36 english)
Taking SAT subject tests in: Literature, Spanish, US History
GPA UW: 3.99
GPA W: 4.5588
Race: white/female
AP Classes/Scores: US History (5)
Senior Year Schedule Honors British Literature, Honors International Business, Honors Spanish 4, Business and Economics, AP Environmental Science. My school does not offer many AP, so my schedule is filled with honors.
Dual enrollment: Honors Spanish 3 and 4, starting college with 16 credits for Spanish and 4.0 which go towards a minor in Spanish
Major: Biology and Economics with minor in Spanish
Track: Premed

Extra Curriculars/awards

4 years of Medical Occupations club- served as secretary sophomore year, treasurer junior, and VP senior year. Competed in national HOSA conference. Volunteer throughout the community and have shadowed cadavers at Washu in St. Louis through this as well as volunteering hundreds of hours.
4 years of Model UN- competed and won awards at University of Chicago’s Model UN Conference. Scribe sophomore and junior year, President senior year
4 years of interact junior rotary club- volunteering throughout the community through recycling and green earth projects
4 years as a new student ambassador- showing new students around the school
4 years on county youth board- prevention and volunteering service board throughout the county. was the vice president my senior year and partook in a state health conference at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville multiple times
Frew’s Homecoming Ambassador: I represented a bridal company by volunteering to model with them in partner with local charities for fashion shows
National Honor Society
Spanish Honor Society
National English Honor Society
Spanish Language Award- top 10% performance in area
Tiger Choice Service Award
Silver medallion recipient; top 8% of students regionally
Southern Illinois Scholar

Recs are very good (although I have not read them)

One of my essays is about my involvement in Model UN. Another is about my battle with Chiari Malformation, a strucutual defect in the cerebellum, that has been a challenge in my academic career and why I want to pursue being a neurologist due to it.

Thank you!

2

May I ask you why Vanderbilt? You seem like a strong candidate.

3

As cliche as it may sound, Vanderbilt has been my dream school since freshman year. I love the strong academics, have friends there, enjoy the Nashville scene and Southern culture, want to study abroad, participate in Greek life, be a part of the SEC atmosphere, and hopefully shadow at the hospital on campus during undergrad. It literally has everything I desire while only being four hours from home!

4

@TimeUpJunior ^

5

You certainly did your work. Good luck to you!

6

I’d say you’re a low reach or high match if you apply ED. You are a strong candidate. They seem to like very high stats, and yours certainly qualify.

Have you chosen other schools for apps?

Based on what you said you like about Vandy – to put them in general terms: a southern city, good Greek presence, good/D1 sports scene, nearby hospital – I’d suggest the following:

Tulane
U of Richmond
SMU

And here are some more with notable caveats:

Rice - No/little Greek life. But most kids there gush about the camaraderie enjoyed in their residential college system…,

Miami - technically southern… though not exactly “southern culture”. But man, huge sports scene. The U.

Emory - Doable if you can live without D1 sports; or you could go to GA Tech games. Awesome med opportunities though – the CDC is right there and there are hospitals galore. Emory is a peer of Vandy, just not quite as selective these days.

Washington U is pretty similar to Emory. If you apply to one, you might as well apply to the other (for most academic interests, anyway…). Similar vibes, both are strong academically all-around, D3 sports, 5-miles-from-downtown feel, etc.

So that’s seven additional options for you running the gamut from low reach (Rice, Wash U) to high match (Emory, Tulane, U Richmond) to match (Miami, SMU).

Pick a safety, run NPC to make sure they’re all affordable, and you’re set.

:slight_smile:

7

Your numbers/ECs check all of the boxes. You’re not a lock, but it seems like you would have a solid chance at EDI. From here on out, make sure your essays and recs are good, and it all depends on the subjective interpretation of your app by the adcoms.

8

@prezbucky

Actually there is zero Greek life at Rice. The dorm that you are assigned to becomes your affiliation. It is similar to the house assignments in Harry Potter.

9

Yep. Residential colleges.

10

Chance me ED1?

SAT: 1470 (770 math, 700 CR) just re-took, definitely did better on CR aiming for superscore of 1500-1520
SAT II: 800 math 2, 790 chem, 730 bio (probably won’t send bio)
GPA: 3.9UW, 4.7W with consistent grades freshman through junior year
Senior Year Courses: AP Bio, AP Comp Sci, BC Calc, Honors Mandarin 5, Honors English, Honors Band & Orchestra
APs: Chem (5), USH (4) kinda mad about history but whatever
Rank: Top decile, very competitive, affluent public high school
ECs: (just big things)
Club tennis year-round, varsity tennis every year, senior year captain
Work experiencing coaching youth tennis freshman and sophomore years
Started work at a restaurant summer before junior year, work ~15 hours per week through the school year to present
Play 1st chair french horn in honors band and in the orchestra every year
Also part of NHS, student government, done community service through band, and will be inducted into Tri-M music society this coming year
Recs should all be ok as I asked my APUSH teacher and AP Chem teachers who I both liked (and liked me) and did well in their classes, also guidance rec should be decent as I’ve spoken with him a few times and is very nice

Just visited last week and loved everything about it – Nashville, the campus, and the people seemed awesome. Now I have my heart set on Vandy ED1 and need to get in lol

11

Chance me ED1?

SAT: 1470 (770 math, 700 CR) just re-took, definitely did better on CR aiming for superscore of 1500-1520
SAT II: 800 math 2, 790 chem, 730 bio (probably won’t send bio)
GPA: 3.9UW, 4.7W with consistent grades freshman through junior year
Senior Year Courses: AP Bio, AP Comp Sci, BC Calc, Honors Mandarin 5, Honors English, Honors Band & Orchestra
APs: Chem (5), USH (4) kinda mad about history but whatever
Rank: Top decile, very competitive, affluent public high school
ECs: (just big things)
Club tennis year-round, varsity tennis every year, senior year captain
Work experiencing coaching youth tennis freshman and sophomore years
Started work at a restaurant summer before junior year, work ~15 hours per week through the school year to present
Play 1st chair french horn in honors band and in the orchestra every year
Also part of NHS, student government, done community service through band, and will be inducted into Tri-M music society this coming year
Recs should all be ok as I asked my APUSH teacher and AP Chem teachers who I both liked (and liked me) and did well in their classes, also guidance rec should be decent as I’ve spoken with him a few times and is very nice

Just visited last week and loved everything about it – Nashville, the campus, and the people seemed awesome. Now I have my heart set on Vandy ED1 and need to get in lol

12

Thank you so much! I have applied to Tulane as well as some northern schools but will probably attend Ole Miss on a full ride into their honors college. That program offers many of the benefits I was looking for but still with an SEC school feel

13

@anc123 Ole Miss is full tuition plus a little more unless you win another scholarship you apply for I believe. Is that right? Just want to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My son is trying to decide between the honors college at Bama or Ole Miss and I smaller highly academic school in the North East with no scholarship but a little financial aid. Some of them are very generous.

14

It’s difficult to chance anyone at VU anymore as it is now a reach for even top students like you. VU is now one of the top ten most difficult U’s to get into (Business Inside and Niche). It is now easier to get into 4 of the Ivies and Duke than to get accepted at VU.

A few thoughts about pre-med:
*If you live in MS and plan to attend med school in MS then Ole Miss is a good choice. Little chance you will be weeded out, & you will be the smartest kid in all your classes. At VU you have more weed out risk as everyone in the class in as bright as you and the rigor will be higher.

*If MS is not your home state and you do not plan on attending med school in MS you may want to consider VU (or other top 30 university). If you survive the VU weed out you will be in much better position to apply to med schools all over the country. VU and your VU classmates will also push you which will help your MCAT and prepare you for med school classes.
*If you plan to attend a top tier med school go to VU (or other top 30 University). 70% of top tier med school students come from top 30 undergraduate universities (the top 1% of UG universities will fill 75% of the med schools class). The other 25% come from the other 3500 colleges and universities.
*If you plan to go into primary care it will not matter which med school you attend. If you want to be a neurologist or other specialist then the med school & UG school you attend will matter. Your UG name, preparation, and ability to flourish in an ocean full of big fish will help. If you want to be a specialist you need to graduate in the top 1/3 of you med school class. Look for the UG school that will best prepare you to perform well in med school.

15

Yes. Technically I only get full tuition right now for my scores. However, I have been assured by financial aid that I am very competitive and a prime candidate to have room and board as well as any other expenses covered by Ole Miss. I find out officially starting in December

16

@anc123 - OK. Thanks. Just wanted to see if I was missing something. Good luck!